The Italian and the Pea
by Kagaya Daydreams
Summary: One shot  An Hetalia Fairy Tale,based on the Hans Christian Andersen story The Princess and the Pea. This is not Fem! Italy!


Long ago, in a faraway land there once was a prince, Prince Ludwig Beilschmidt of Germany wanted to marry a princess, but she could not be just any princess, she absolutely _had _to be a real princess. He lived lavish lifestyle with his grandfather, and still reigning king, Odoacer Beilschmidt ,his older brother, Prince Gilbert Beilschmidt, their long-time Hungarian nanny, Elizabeta Héderváry, and the rest of the maids and butler of the mansion.

On his twentieth birthday, the prince left his home, in search of a bride, on the back of his creme-colored horse name Aster. Prince Ludwig scoured the globe in hopes to locate the lady to fit his simple description, but there was always something wrong with them.

Princess Mei of Taiwan found him too frightening, and ran off.

Princess Natalia of Belarus claimed that she and the Prince Ivan of Russia were going to be married very soon. (Though he heard straight from Ivan himself that he had no intention of marrying Natalia, she was too scary.)

Princess Bella of Belgium was extremely nice, and outgoing, but Prince Ludwig discovered that she was more of a big sister to him than a wife. He informed her of his observation, she accepted it calmly and bode him farewell, telling him to come back so she could meet whomever he decided to marry.

Yes, Prince Ludwig went all around the world, but it was all in vain, for no princess could meet his tastes. He returned to the Kingdom of Germany, depressed. When King Odoacer heard of his grandon's arrival, he ordered for everyone in the kingdom to come greet him.

The crowd of peasants overwhelmed Aster, he bucked, and Prince Ludwig was thrown backwards to the ground. Everyone scattered quickly. Well, almost everyone. An Italian boy by the name of Feliciano Vargas, who had auburn hair and a rebellious curl, soft chocolate brown eyes, and smooth olive skin stood there frozen. He was almost identical to a deer caught in headlights.

He could only gape in fear, and wait for his impending doom, for his body would not listen to his commands. Feliciano screamed as the horse's hoves drew nearer. Prince Ludwig recovered from being flung to the stone ground, and acted completely on instinct, he dashed for Feliciano and pulled him out of the way, an arm wrapped around Feliciano's waist.

Prince Gilbert ran to Aster, bringing along a resident with blonde, wavy hair, and violet eyes. His name was Matthew Williams, but to Prince Gilbert and he was _Mattie. _Matthew quickly calmed the frightened horse, and rubbed his mane to soothe him further.

"Are you okay, _mädchen?" _Prince Ludwig asked a disoriented Italian. He locked eyes with 'her' for a moment, noticing the lively, but slightly confused dark brown eyes. He would be lying if he said that these eyes were not the most beautiful he had ever seen.

Feliciano blinked a couple times to register what had just happened, he almost got trampled by a horse, was saved by the actual _prince _of the kingdom, not to mention he was currently being _held_ by him and being mistaken for a girl.

"Ve~ I'm fine, thank you for saving me, but Prince...I'm...not female, I'm male. I sincerely apologize if I led you in any way." Feliciano said timidly, he was starting to get lost in Prince Ludwig's icy-blue eyes.

"No, I should apologize, I didn't mean to mistake you as a girl. Just...be careful, understood?" Ludwig released Feliciano awkwardly, the Italian thanked him once again and ran off.

Prince Ludwig watched him go, his erractic heartbeat returning back to normal as the feminine-looking male disappeared into the distance.

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><p>Two years after the incident, Prince Ludwig was still unwed, and becoming more dejected with every passing day. No matter how much King Odoacer and Prince Gilbert tried to find someone for him, they were both helpless to do anything, for there were absolutely no more princesses in the entire world that the blonde prince had not met.<p>

Prince Ludwig began taking long walks, to clear his mind and to take a look at the nature that was all around the Kingdom of Germany. The kingdom did not have an abnormally high population, so he saw the people of his domain everyday, some more than others. Though this may hold true, he did not see the auburn-haired at all, nor had the peasants.

The prince regretted that he had not asked his name, though he did not have time to dwell on his immediate anguish, the clouds began to darken, and thunder resounded throughout the sky. He instantaneously turned around and headed back to the castle, not wanting to become drenched.

When it was became very late, the weather was turbulent and destructive, raging winds threw itself against the walls of the castle. Rain pounded against the windows, it fell in torrents, and lightning flashed violently.

All at once there was a pounding on the castle door. The Hungarian nanny, Elizabeta rose from her bed and rushed to the door in her long pink gown, she was accompanied by King Odoacer, who was also disturbed by the ear-piercing knocking during this late hour.

Elizabeta opened the door, and shocked to find a what looked like a female standing in the door, drenched. The Hungarian nanny had never seen this person before, and was quite surprised in general that there would actually be someone at the castle doors. She concluded that the stranger was indeed male, by the way his doused clothing clung to his body, and the fact his auburn hair was entirely too short to be a lady's. Elizabeta invited him in, much to King Odoacer's protests, the man was in a very sad condition.

"Heehee," Elizabeta snickered to herself cunningly. "This boy seems so feminine that he even tricked my eyes for a moment, maybe he's as delicate as a princess as well! I have the perfect test!"

King Odoacer eyed her suspiciously, he didn't like it when the Hungarian devised plans, it always ended up with him having to pay for something that was broken in the process! The nanny instructed for the King to go off to bed, she would handle the male. The King huffed and went off to bed, praying that nothing destructive would happen.

The male was given a dry blue gown that accented his small build, courtesy of Elizabeta. She gave him some hot tea to warm him up, they had a nice conversation, she learned that his name was Feliciano, but soon the male became drowsy. Elizabeta prepared a guest room for him, it was time to execute her plan! She placed a single pea on the bedstead, and stacked twenty matresses on the bed, one on top of the other. Elizabeta laid a ladder against the bed so Feliciano could climb up.

She called him into the room, he came in quietly, Feliciano gasped quietly at the sight of the many mattresses. Elizabeta left Feliciano alone in the room, after she made sure he was safely in the bed. Feliciano was left alone in the room, but he could not sleep. The thunderstorm was much too violent, and everytime lighting flashed his blood ran cold.

* * *

><p>Morning arrived, and Feliciano dragged himself out of the feather bed, and walked sluggishly down the stairs. He was greeted by the royal family who was sitting at the breakfast table, and Elizabeta who was serving them water. Prince Gilbert was, to put it mildly completely surprised, as was Prince Ludwig.<p>

"Good morning, Feliciano!" Elizabeta smiled sweetly, "How did you sleep?"

"Ve~ Morning... I didn't sleep very well, there was something in my bed that really hurt (and that thunderstorm was horrifying.)" Feliciano rubbed his eyes.

Elizabeta's plan worked.

Prince Ludwig's silverware clattered against the table as he stood from his chair, "I-it's you!"

"Ve~ Hello again, Prince Ludwig." Feliciano waved drowsily.

"How? Why? What... brings you here?" Prince Ludwig was completely astonished, the person he had wished to see again for two years had by some type of miracle ended up in his castle.

"You know him?" Elizabeta was confused.

"He saved me." Feliciano answered.

"But I never got his name." Prince Ludwig added bitterly.

"Well, I've found your _real_ princess, Prince." Elizabeta pointed to Feliciano.

"Huh?" The entire room yelled in unison.

"Feliciano has the delicacy of a real princess, he felt the peas I put on the very bottom of the twenty mattresses. only a real princess could have such a delicate sense of feeling." Elizabeta explained to the bewildered castle.

Prince Ludwig and Feliciano's hearts soared as they locked eyes once again, they both wanted to see each other for so long, even though their first meeting was very short, and they still considered the other a stranger. The two knew it was love at first sight. King Odoacer stood up and declared that they were to be married the very next day. Feliciano smiled brightly, his previous drowsiness completely gone.

The entire kingdom attended the wedding, completely with confetti doves, and many gifts. The Kingdom of Germany was so vibrant, and happy, ecstatic that the prince had found someone to love. They shared their first kiss, it was sweet, and sent shockwaves through their bodies. Without a doubt, Ludwig and Feliciano were soulmates.

And Prince Ludwig, who was true to his word, took Feliciano to Belgium to meet Princess Bella. Princess Bella instantly became friends with Feliciano and they talked to each other regularly.

And to end this fairy tale with and old and overused cliché... Prince Ludwig and Prince Feliciano lived happily ever after.

The End.

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><p><strong>Kagaya here, since it's taking so long for me to update my multi-chap fics, I decided to write some one-shots to keep my readers happy as they wait.<strong>

**I got this idea while reading the fic _In the Shadows of the Black Forest _by _ratsister_. I think it was clever that she incorporated Hetalia characters into fairy tales. I'm really hoping that she'll read this fic.**

**Well it's pretty obvious that this is based on the story, _The Princess and the Pea _by Hans Christian Andersen. Though I added a couple things, though it's pretty obvious. I hope it didn't mess up the story.**

**My one-shots won't be completely fairy tales, or GerIta for that matter. I was thinking the next one would be a Giripan... Japan and Greece go to an onsen. Nuff' said. Might be my first M rated fic...I dunno.**

**Thank you for reading!**


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